Merchantville High School - Record Yearbook (Merchantville, NJ)

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TIIHSH WhaT does This picTure oT an English class suggesT To us as we sTarT our day in MerchanTville High School? lT is really much more Than a picTure oT Mr. Flinn's class dramaTizing a scene Trom MacbeTh. IT represenTs all The English classes we have ever aTTended. MacbeTh and Shakespeare! WiTh These words we seniors unlock a sTore oT memories ThaT range widely Through English and American liTera- Ture. There are The poems which we sTudied and which some oT us came To love-perhaps The old English and ScoTch ballads, The marvelous melo- dies aT Poe, or The TriumphanT shouT oT WhiTman glorying in American democracy. There are The merry Tales which have poured endlessly Trom The pens oT English wriTers, Trom The gay advenTures oT Sir Gawain and The Green KnighT To Thomas Hardy's Tony KyTes, The Archdeceiver. And There is The magniTicenT march oT American prose as we read iT and Teel iT in The preamble To The ConsTiTuTion oT The UniTed STaTes, The DeclaraTion oT Independence, Lincoln's GeTTysburg Address and his second Inaugural Ad- dress. YeT if we were To choose a TavoriTe auThor, we should probably pass over even The mighTy Shakespeare wiTh his brillianT AnTony, his rollicking Sir Toby Belch, The TearTul wiTches, and The wicked MacbeTh, For iT is Charles Dickens who sTands TirsT among The auThors whom we love. The characTers in A Tale of Two CiTies and David Copperfield seem To come closer To us Than Those oT any oTher auThor. On some days in English class, however, we Turn Trom The reading oT liTergTure To The wriTing oT essays. ATTer our preliminary obiecTion-which we never Tail To voice-ThaT we can'T Think oT anyThing worTh wriTing aloouT, The real sTruggle begins. Pencils are biTTen, and papers are crumpled: dark looks are casT aT The Teachers and hopeTul ones aT The clock: buT, somehow. The essays are wriTTen. On oTher days we ponder over grammar and The sTrange' ways of words in English speech. This is The Time when Those sTudenTs who are clever aT unraveling senTences diagram easily and skillTully aT The board or non- chalanTly poinT ouT gerunds and adverbial nouns. BUT English class draws To a close, and we Tind ThaT we musT leave The grammar, The essays, or The liTeraTure, Tor oTher work awaiTs us. WILLIAM R. FLINN DOROTHY P. CLINE B.S., M.S., Universify of A.B., Syracuse Universify Pennsylvania HELEN W. SHEAFFER A.B., A.M., UniversiTy of Pennsylvania ELEANOR A. RUSH A.B., Universify of Delaware MARY HEIM B.S.. Universify of Pennsylvania EVELYN A. GRONEK B.S., Temple Universify

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LZJROTHY s. ALLEN A a ew Jersey College for Women: M.A., Columbia Univer- HISIURY Now we come To Miss Allen's class in modern hisTory. We are surprised aT TirsT To Tind ourselves sTudying in This course evenTs ThaT occurred in England in The sevenTeenTh cenTury, buT soon we come To undersTand one aT The greaT TruThs of hisTory-ThaT The presenT is deeply rooTed in The pasT. ArTicles and picTures in newspapers and magazines, many radio programs, and newsreels aT The TheaTres Tell us aT evenTs and persons in our own counTry and beyond The seas. Kings scheme To regain losT Thrones, and dicTaTors arise To desTroy governmenT by The people. The UniTed NaTions sTruggle To achieve a lasTing peace Tor weary mankind. All The rushing acTiviTy of The modern world is presenTed To us in hisTory class and Then explained in The lighT of whaT has happened in pasT ages. l-lowever, iT is noT only wiTh The hisTory of modern Europe and of our own UniTed STaTes aT America ThaT we are concerned Some classes in hisTory Take us back To The earliesT civilizaTions of which mankind has any record. We see EgypT sTruggle wiTh dynas- Ties, wars, and agriculTural problems: Greece once more IighTs The Torch of freedom Tor The human race and creaTes an arT and a liTeraTure desTined To iniluence The world Tor cenTuries. We waTch The mighTy armies aT Rome sweep across The known world oT Their Time, and we Tind The Romans spreading abroad Their genius Tor law and organizaTion. IT is in hisTory class, Then, ThaT we are given The widesT view aT The human race wiTh all iTs recurring problems and wiTh all iTs superb achievemenTs.